Gear Reviews

REAL-WORLD ASSESSMENTS OF RECORDING EQUIPMENT BY WORKING PROFESSIONALS.

NO. 170 Gear Review

Mesanovic: Model 2A Active Ribbon Mic

REVIEWED BY Don Gunn
May 6, 2026

Mesanovic Microphones is a somewhat newer company from Detroit, eponymously named for its founder, Deni Mesanovic, who built and designed his first ribbon mic for his senior thesis in college. In the decade since, the company has also added to its line of microphones two models of 3-way active...

NO. 170 Gear Review

Mike Campbell, author: Heartbreaker: A Memoir (book)

REVIEWED BY Mike Kosacek
May 6, 2026

Growing up, Tom Petty was always part of my life’s soundtrack. Into adulthood (especially when the Wildflowers LP came out), I began to appreciate his music more; the deceptively simple arrangements, awesome harmonies, and catchy hooks. Many of those catchy hooks were courtesy of Tom’s longtime...

NO. 170 Gear Review

Editors Keys: DAW-specific ASCII keyboards

REVIEWED BY Rich Hardesty
May 6, 2026

Raise your hand if you've spent a considerable amount of time memorizing, or at least creating, your own personalized cheat sheet that catalogs the vast number of keyboard shortcuts for your DAW software of choice. I've had to do it twice: First when learning Steinberg’s Cubase [Tape...

NO. 170 Gear Review

Placid Audio: Carbonphone RU80 microphone

May 6, 2026

When Placid Audio released their debut Copperphone [Tape Op#42] in 2003, it seemed destined to become a future classic. I have since seen them on concert stages and in studios, and in front of Jack White [#82], Norah Jones, and other notable artists. The success of the original Copperphone enabled...

NO. 170 Gear Review

Robert Hassan, author: Analog (book)

REVIEWED BY John Baccigaluppi
May 6, 2026

Many words have been written over the years in Tape Op about the pros and cons of analog and digital recording. Based on the VU meter pictograph on the cover of Analog by Robert Hassan, you might think you would find more discussion on that topic, but you would be wrong. Though there is some...

NO. 171 Gear Review

Universal Audio: Volt 876 audio interface

REVIEWED BY Dana Gumbiner
May 6, 2026

The 1U rack-mount Universal Audio Volt 876 audio interface is on the bench! The larger cousin to the rest of the affordable Volt interface range, the 876 brings quite a bit of additional fit and function to the family. Notably, the 876 can be used as an ADAT expansion unit and features completely...

NO. 171 Gear Review

Universal Audio: LUNA 2.0 DAW

REVIEWED BY Dana Gumbiner
May 6, 2026

Universal Audio’s free DAW, LUNA, has a major update that just cleared the launchpad – LUNA 2.0 for both macOS and PC. It includes ARA 2 support, AI-infused instrument detection, and, if you own or purchase the LUNA Pro upgrade, a total of 29 UAD plug-ins, some new third-party ARA and MIDI effects...

NO. 171 Gear Review

Rupert Neve Designs: OptoFET Dual Stage Compressor

REVIEWED BY Adam Kagan
May 6, 2026

For the past two decades, Rupert Neve Designs has delivered a steady stream of innovative and powerful analog audio processors, including the Master Buss Processor [Tape Op#89], the Master Bus Transformer, and the Shelford, Newton, and Portico series. Naturally, my interest was piqued when I heard...

NO. 171 Gear Review

Roswell Pro Audio: Cab Mic guitar mic

REVIEWED BY Daniel Ryan Morse
May 6, 2026

What’s the best kind of microphone for recording electric guitar? On first glance, this seems like a straightforward question, but dig in a bit and notice the layers of sedimentation. The pat answer is that you position a Shure SM57 or other dynamic mic on the grill cloth, pointed on or near the...

NO. 171 Gear Review

Roland: TR-1000 Rhythm Creator drum machine

May 6, 2026

Drum machines have defined and redefined several genres of popular music for nearly five decades. Many of the most recognizable electronic drum sounds originated in analog units manufactured by Roland in Hamamatsu, Japan. After six years of building pre-programmed models designed to accompany organ...

NO. 171 Gear Review

Qobuz: Qobuz music streaming service

REVIEWED BY Danielle Goldsmith
May 6, 2026

There has been a lot of talk lately about how music streaming platforms, such as Spotify, change the way we listen to and engage with music. As a sound engineer, it’s disappointing when the music I’ve worked on ends up sounding worse after it gets uploaded to Spotify. Their compression algorithms –...

NO. 171 Gear Review

Lunar Microphones: TBM-06 condenser mic

May 6, 2026

Joe Orlandi did not intend to build microphones when he retired from his 20-year career in the film industry. He started collecting musical instruments and building a commercial recording studio in his quiet corner of Ohio. His focus began to shift when he unwittingly bought a knock-off of a...

NO. 171 Gear Review

IK Multimedia: ARC ON·EAR

REVIEWED BY Scott McDowell
May 6, 2026

ARC ON·EAR is a hybrid headphone amp/DAC with built-in EQ correction for popular professional headphones. Like most audio workers, I do a ton of work while wearing headphones. Spending hours a day critically listening in headphones is a big part of my job. Whether I’m using the old Apple EarPods or...

NO. 171 Gear Review

Eventide: Temperance Pro reverb plug-in

REVIEWED BY Danielle Goldsmith
May 6, 2026

It’s always exciting when a company comes out with a plug-in that does something different and rethinks how we use some of our most fundamental tools. Eventide did exactly that with their new reverb, Temperance Pro. Loading up Temperance Pro into a DAW, it’s immediately apparent that it isn’t a...

NO. 171 Gear Review

Cranborne Audio: Brick Lane 500 Series compressor

REVIEWED BY Scott McDowell
May 6, 2026

Hey, did you hear that Cranborne Audio just dropped its first compressor? Every single unit this company designs is filled with so much amazing outside-the-box thinking. It’s inspiring. I’ve read about pulse width modulation compressors before, like the Great River PWM-501 [Tape Op #102] or the...

NO. 171 Gear Review

3M: Dual Lock fastener strips

REVIEWED BY Dana Gumbiner
May 6, 2026

The quick, five-word review: think Velcro, but not shitty. Okay, a few more words for the modern miracle of Dual Lock: I found this super-strong, reclosable/reusable fastening tape suggested on a few stompbox pedalboard forums, gave it a try, and have since become a little obsessed. Backed with an...

NO. 171 Gear Review

Solid State Logic: Alpha 8 audio interface

REVIEWED BY Gary Virene
May 6, 2026

Solid State Logic was founded in 1969 to manufacture solid-state control systems for organs. They began building consoles with automation in the mid-1970s, when none were available. They were originally known for their large-format mixing consoles, but currently they offer a remarkable variety of...

NO. 172 Gear Review

TipTone Audio Devices: BC-4K compressor pedal

REVIEWED BY Matt Anderson
May 6, 2026

Incorporating guitar pedals into studio workflows has become increasingly popular lately. I’ve seen everyone from Walrus Audio collaborating with Aaron Sterling to Chandler offering inserts specifically for guitar pedals in their new REDD Mixing System. Needless to say, everyone’s quickly catching...